


it's taking us long, but we'll get there

by captaincastello



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-24 15:09:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18573997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captaincastello/pseuds/captaincastello
Summary: Everyone knows there's something going on with Steve and Natasha, even when they don't know it themselves.





	it's taking us long, but we'll get there

**Author's Note:**

> this follows canon timeline and events, minus the other romantic partners they've been paired with
> 
>  
> 
> excited for A4 and staying hopeful!!!!  
> also i spent the past week doing this and am glad i could finish before april 24  
> wishing all the best for our parents steve and nat in A4 *fingers crossed*  
> meanwhile, i hope you enjoy!

 

 

i.

 

The times sure have improved so much of the old world - the facilities, the equipment and the lifestyles of people have definitely stepped up to another bar that didn’t exist when Steve enlisted. Everything he has seen during the invasion in New York proved so much of how little he knew of the world - no, the universe itself - but the things the Avengers and SHIELD have showed him also proved that humanity is stepping up to the challenge and is arming herself up for the dangers that may or may not come.

The years he spent asleep under the ice did nothing to dampen his fierce spirit and will to continue being the Sentinel of Freedom, and when Nick Fury asked if he would like a tour of SHIELD, Steve told him he couldn’t wait to get started.

Not less than a week later, he’s assigned to Agent Maria Hill, who’s job for the day is to formally introduce him to the inner workings of SHIELD, and to give him a tour of the Triskelion.

An hour or so into the tour, he spots a familiar face. Agent Hill has taken him to a large training area where the field agents all come to spar or to work out, and immersed in her own battle with a punching bag is the Black Widow herself, Natasha Romanoff.

Well it really wasn’t hard to miss that flaming mane of red amid the minimalist design of the place. Her form, as she twists her lithe body and to deliver a high kick, is impeccable. The force of her kick throws the bag off its chain, sending it flying across the room, to land at Steve’s feet.

Steve picks it up as Natasha jogs toward them to retrieve it. The bag is even more battered upon closer inspection.

“Hey,” Natasha exchanges a friendly smile with Maria when she nears them. Steve can tell it’s a genuine one she reserves for friends. He’s about to take a step forward to help hang the bag up its chain when Natasha takes it from his hands like it was nothing but a pillow.

“Captain,” she nods at him as she carries the bag on one shoulder. She has her hair tied up in a ponytail, but some lose strands are matted on her face with sweat. She doesn’t look at all winded, though. “Care to join me for a spar?”

“And suffer the same fate as that?” Steve says as he gestures to the punching bag. “Thanks, but I’d have to politely decline the offer, ma’am.”

Natasha gives him an amused shake of her head and a smile.

“Guess I’ll be seeing you around, then,” she says before turning around to go back to her training spot. She indeed has quite the presence, because even just the sight of her walking can command an entire room’s attention to her. Steve has to wonder how she can be this, and at the same time be the spy that can successfully go undercover if it were needed of her.

“I think she likes you,” Maria says in a tone that makes Steve realize he’s been caught staring.

“I, um,” he stammers, but she laughs it off without any tinge of mockery in her voice.

“Oh, don’t worry too much about what I said, Captain,” she says. “You’ll be teaming up with Nat for most of your missions as she is the senior agent who’ll show you the ropes. You guys will be fine, is all I’m saying.”

Steve doesn’t know if it’s his imagination, but he’s pretty sure Maria just looked at him and then back at Natasha again with a certain glint in her eyes. Before he can really think on it, she moves forward with the tour of the Triskelion, and all his attention is now focused back on how he can help save the world.

 

 

ii.

 

 

He’s only known Sam Wilson for the few times he passed him on his routine morning run, but with everything that’s going on, the only one he thinks he can trust apart from Natasha, is him. He’s always been a good judge of character, and this time he knows he isn’t mistaken either.

Sam doesn’t ask questions first, instead he lets them take a breather, and that is something Steve greatly appreciates. After everything that he and Natasha had uncovered and faced in the past few hours, they definitely need some time to recuperate, even if they cannot stay idle for too long.

Sam does have a few questions once he’s alone with him, though.

“So, she picks you up in her car, and the next time you show up, you’re running away from bad people with her,” Sam says nonchalantly as if he’s recapping a TV episode to him. “Did you steal her from her rich father or something?”

Okay, so this isn’t the line of questioning Steve’s expecting. Also unexpected is how it doesn’t fail to amuse him.

“If only it were that simple,” Steve says with a tired sort of laugh. Now that he thinks about it, that actually sounds like a story Natasha can cook up in one of their undercover missions. It’s so far-fetched it can work, and she’s been known to sell even crazier stories.

Then again, the person Steve was a few days ago would also think that everything going on with him and Natasha and SHIELD right now is, well, far-fetched and crazy.

He lets out a long sigh.

“Me and Natasha Romanoff hiding from my current employer in an effort to take our company down. Imagine what my mother would say.”

They both laugh, as if they were old friends with a whole history of inside jokes behind them. Steve feels something lift in his chest - he hasn’t felt like this in ages. The feeling reminds him of laughs and stories exchanged around a camp fire, the clap of a Howling Commando on his back, a deck of cards messily placed on a wooden table surrounded by his brothers in arms. This feels close to that.

“Well I bet she’d say she’s glad you’ve got someone beside you that you can trust,” Sam says after a thoughtful beat, surprising Steve with his sobering honesty. He feels the gravity of those words deeply. He had those, once. He thinks he might have just found him some again.

Granted, he and Natasha were pushed together by circumstance, and had no choice but to rely on each other. However, he cannot deny that being with her has taught him so much about the world, about her, and about himself. Back in Sam’s room, she had asked him if he trusted her, and he knew right then that he, without a doubt, does believe that Natasha Romanoff is someone he can put his faith in. He’s quite sure she feels the same about him, too.

Sam glances back at the room where Natasha’s staying, and continues. “Friends like that who’ll stick with you when the going gets rough - while also being that hot? You, sir, just hit the jackpot.”

And just like that, he’s back to being Sam.

“That was… so profound,” Steve replies just as Natasha joins them in the room. Once again these little moments have to be put on hold when the fate of the world has to come first.

 

 

iii.

 

 

Looking around at the wide fields, the windswept grass, the line of trees surrounding the Barton homestead, Steve feels like he’s dreaming.

Once, as a young man, he had dreamed of this - a peaceful life, surrounded by the people he loves. Tiny feet running on the wooden floorboards, toys scattered on the carpet, sharing brewed coffee and a warm blanket once the kids have been tucked into bed. And they’ll have a dog. Most definitely a dog, or two.

But as it always is with Steve Rogers, he puts the world first before his own self. With the way things were, and how there’s always a threat waiting at every turn, he knows he has to put that dream on hold. To be honest, he actually hasn’t thought about it for a while - not until Clint brought them here and introduced them to his very pregnant wife Laura, and their two kids, Lila and Cooper.

Now standing on the porch of their home as he watches those two kids run towards the large tree in the middle of the farm, Steve feels like he’s entered into another world.

Lila and Cooper both stop near the tree’s base, their hands in the air even as their short legs fail to let them reach the nearest branch. Suddenly, a figure pokes itself out from above them, grabbing Lila and taking her with it back to the cover of leaves. Not a second later, Cooper goes in the same way, laughing - and Steve realizes it’s actually Natasha up there, hanging with her legs from a branch to lift the children up with her.

The leaves rustle as the tree of them play on the branches, and Steve hears more laughter.

“They do that every time she’s here,” says a voice beside him, which startles him a little. Steve doesn’t realize how much he’s immersed himself in the image of Natasha with the kids until he hears Clint speaking beside him.

“Every time?” he says as Clint leans on the wooden railing.

“They really adore their Aunt Nat,” he continues, a warm and nostalgic light in his eyes. “It wasn’t always like this, you know. First time she came here, she climbed up that tree because that’s where they couldn’t reach her. Took some time before she warmed up to them, or to anyone for that matter.”

Natasha with kids is an image still quite new yet not unwelcome to Steve. Natasha putting up walls - that is something he can attest to. “I think I know what you mean.”

They both hear Lila’s ecstatic laughter from the tree. She’s climbed up the highest branch, her head poking out from atop the tree. Not a second later, Cooper comes up next to her, an arm outstretched to reach the sky. Natasha comes up last, her hair burning like fire in the light of the setting sun.

The kids turn around and see their father with Steve, and they wave their hands enthusiastically. Beside them, Natasha is smiling.

“But it looks like she’s opened up to you, Cap,” Clint says as they both wave back, surprising Steve once again. “Nat shared some things with me about how and why SHIELD collapsed, and I can tell something’s different about her after spending some time with you. I think I can say the same thing about you, too.”

Steve’s eyes visibly soften and he doesn’t say anything back, and Clint obviously knows he isn’t wrong. In that moment, Steve realizes two things; one - that Clint has been wanting to open up this conversation with him; and two - that a new kind of wanting has seized his thoughts - the urgent need to gain Clint’s approval. The man has shown no signs of disfavor at all, but to Steve, what he thinks matters and all of a sudden he wants to impress him.

Then Clint lowers his head a little, sharp eyes still trained on Steve’s face, his gaze as piercing as the tip of his arrows, and voice as quiet as the hush of evening. What he says next will follow Steve for the rest of his days.

“You’re one of the few people in this world that can truly hurt her.”

He’s not asking for an answer, but it comes out so quick and easy out of Steve anyway. “I would _never_.”

Clint holds his gaze, and Steve reflexively straightens his spine. He wants his resolve to show, for his sincerity to be felt. Wordlessly, Clint pushes himself from the railing to face him squarely. After the longest couple of seconds, the edges of his mouth curl upward ever so slightly, and Steve feels like he can breathe again. He knows that something between them has shifted as well.

The front door suddenly swings open. 

“Dinner’s ready!” Laura says from behind them. “Dear, could you go get Nat and the kids down please?”`

“Right away, boss,” Clint says, a warm smile on his face. He’s quickly back to being the reliable husband. “Care to help me with that, Cap?”

Steve smiles back, and walks right behind him as they make their way to the tree.

 

 

iv.

 

 

Wakanda is just as beautiful as he remembers it - lush with greenery, yet still in perfect harmony with the wonders of technology, something that the outside world is still struggling to work out. As their jet flies over rolling hills and clear rivers, the sun is just peaking out over the mantle of mountains to the north, sweeping a soft delicate light over the land. Sitting beside him, Sam’s face is also quite something to behold.

Natasha moves to stand behind him, her hand coming to rest on his shoulder as she stands gaping at the view before them. “I’ve never seen anything so breath-taking,”

Steve looks at her - at the morning light melting in the green of her eyes, sunshine combing over her now platinum hair - and thinks he has reason to disagree.

None of the things swirling in his mind ever make it out of his mouth, though. Instead, he simply smiles to himself as he guides their jet to safe landing.

On the ground, T’challa awaits. His smile is a lot wider, and his shoulders less rigid than the last time Steve remembers seeing him.

“He’s waiting,” T’challa tells him once they’ve exchanged salutations, and Steve feels a voluminous lump dissipate in his chest.

The sun has left the mountain ridge and is climbing up the clouds when his eyes find Bucky standing amidst a field of tall grass. He’s dressed in vibrant Wakandan hues, hair flowing in the breeze coming from the river. When he turns around and sees Steve, he looks like he’s come home at last.

“You look good,” Bucky tells him once they’ve sat down under the shade of a tree. Natasha and Sam have decided to give them some time alone, and are now joining T’challa and General Okoye down by the river.

“Everyone’s a fan of the beard,” Steve says with a lighthearted shrug, which earns him a laugh from Bucky. He sure missed that beautiful sound.

He’s not lying about the beard, though. He never really thought about it until Sam went overdramatic in the bathroom when he was about to bring a razor to his face. Natasha gave him the same look she does when she’s flirting and simply told him he better keep it on for undercover purposes. He hasn’t touched the beard since.

“You’re looking better yourself,” Steve tells him back. “I like what you did with your hair.”

“All credits go to Azuri and Kuna over there,” Bucky says as he touches the elaborate braid at the side of his head, his gaze directed in the direction of the river where two young children have joined T’challa and the others. They wave when they spot him and Steve.

There it is again. Whenever Bucky smiles, the light always reaches his eyes. And Steve can’t help but notice how he’s smiled more in here than he’s ever had ever since they were reunited.

“I’m glad to see you’re doing well, Buck.”

“You too, Steve,” Bucky smiles back at him. “All things considered.”

All things indeed - so much has changed since he became a soldier, but even after waking up from the ice, the fighting still hasn’t stopped. Out of everyone, the one who understands this the most is sitting right beside him.

“Hasn’t been easy, but it can be as long as you’re with the right people,” he says, his eyes back at the line of clear water. Sam has Kuna on his shoulders, while Natasha is helping Azuri make flower necklaces for T’challa and Okoye.

“I bet Sam isn’t all that helpful,” Bucky says with obvious mischief. Then, with something shifting in his eyes, he says, “And Romanoff?”

“Nat’s great,” Steve says almost immediately. His intimate familiarity with Bucky lets him know immediately that the conversation is steering towards another direction. “I mean, she’s… you know.”

“Yeah, I think I do,” Bucky says with that knowing look on his face.

Steve stares back at him, at his ridiculous goofy smile, the wrinkles around his eyes that show up when he does. Of course Bucky would know. Steve can never really hide anything too long from him, and sometimes Bucky would even realize things faster than Steve does about himself.

“I saw the way you looked at her back in the airport, Steve. And I saw the way she looked at you, too.”

Back then, his heart had stopped when he saw that she would be the one they had to get through to get to the quinjet. He knew that they’d be on opposite sides, but he had hoped that he wouldn’t have to fight her - he’d been avoiding having to exchange blows with her when they all faced each other in the airport. When she let them go instead, he wanted to just take a moment to hold her.

They fall silent for a bit, but Bucky doesn’t need to hear Steve to understand him. He puts a hand on his shoulder, the palm of his hand as familiar and right as the beat of his heart.

“I’m just saying, you should allow yourself to be happy.”

Steve looks forward, to where Natasha is standing by the river. Like two magnets drawn to the gravity of the other, her eyes find his. The corners of her lips curl upward; he smiles back at her. He pretends he doesn’t feel Bucky secretly poking his side.

 

 

v.

 

 

It takes him another year, but he finally allows himself that happiness. Thanos is defeated, they got everybody back, and he’s not exactly thinking about retirement but he is very much invested in starting a life with her if she wanted to.

And when she automatically climbs on his lap to kiss him, he knows he’s got his answer.

“How did it take us so long to get here?” she asks, breathless as she cups his face with both hands.

“I don’t know. Too shy or too scared?”

This earns him an incredulous look, followed by a hearty laugh from Natasha. Once upon a time she had been the one to use those words on him.

He’s about to pull her back closer when the door to the common room opens.

“Oops,” Tony says, a little caught off-guard but completely unapologetic. “Everybody get back, Rogers and Romanoff are sitting in a tree.”

Steve knows how this rhyme goes before Tony can even finish.

“K-I-S--”

“Let’s get started with the meeting, shall we?” Steve says as the others pile into the room, but that doesn’t stop Tony from completing his chant. Clint throws them a thumbs up, while Bruce has the goofiest Bruce-smile on his face. Thor follows in last with a proud “I know what you’re spelling! It’s _kissing_.”

“For the record, I totally saw _this_ happening from a mile away,” Tony says, his hands gesturing the whole of Steve and Natasha still sitting on the same chair. “Called it.”

Natasha places one last kiss on his forehead before climbing off of him. Holding his face close, she whispers, “Let’s continue later.”

Steve smiles up at her despite the longing he immediately feels for her when she leaves his lap. But it’s alright, because he feels like nothing will go wrong, for a while at least.

For the first time in a long while, he doesn’t think he has to worry so much about tomorrow.


End file.
